2016's biggest GoFundMe campaigns were for La. flood and Pulse victims, Standing Rock and an elderly Popsicle vendor
The world’s largest crowdfunding platform released a year-end report this week detailing the biggest online fundraising efforts of 2016. At the top of GoFundMe’s list? The $11.2 million raised for the victims of the deadly flooding in Louisiana, through hundreds of individual campaigns.
The second-largest GoFundMe response of the year generated more than $9 million following the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., including a $7.9 million fund for the victims of the June 12 massacre — the largest amount raised by a single GoFundMe page in the site’s six-year history.
Third-largest was the effort to raise $7.8 million in support of protesters who demonstrated against the construction of an oil pipeline near the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota. Three separate campaigns — including one for Sophia Wilansky, a protester who was severely injured during a standoff with police — generated $4.5 million alone.
In the U.K., a campaign launched by friends and family of slain British MP Jo Cox raised nearly $2.4 million for three of Cox’s favorite charities. (It was also the biggest GoFundMe campaign in U.K. history.)
There were also a pair of successful GoFundMe efforts launched by celebrities in 2016. Country music star Brad Paisley started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for his flood-ravaged home in the state of West Virginia. Paisley’s page netted more than $700,000.
And a GoFundMe page that raised more than $700,000 for the family of Alton Sterling, a father of five who was killed by police outside a Baton Rouge, La., convenience store, was spearheaded by Issa Rae, an HBO actress best known as the creator of the YouTube web series “Awkward Black Girl.”
Among the top 16 campaigns highlighted in the report, two were launched by strangers on behalf of community members in need. In Chicago, a crowdfunding effort launched by Joel Cervantes Macias to help Fidencio Sanchez, an 89-year-old Popsicle vendor he had seen struggling to push his cart, raised more than $384,000 — so much, in fact, that Macias hired a lawyer and financial adviser to help Sanchez manage his newfound wealth.
In Memphis, a crowdfunding effort launched by a man who by chance met a 16-year-old student struggling to help his family pay the bills raised more than $342,000.
“Here comes this kid inside the Highland Kroger asking if he could help take my groceries to my car in exchange for buying him some glazed donuts,” Matt White explained on his GoFundMe page in June. “He had me at donuts.”
“We’ve reached a point in popular culture where ‘GoFundMe’ has become shorthand for help,” GoFundMe CEO Rob Solomon CEO wrote in the company’s second annual “Year in Giving” report. “What do you do when there are floods or a fire? You start a GoFundMe. What do you do when your neighbor has fallen on hard times or your child’s classroom needs books? You start a GoFundMe.”
And sometimes GoFundMe campaigns beget new ones. A crowdfunding campaign launched by Kate Brandon, whose fiancé, Mike, was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia, raised more than $573,000 for him. He survived, they got married and recently launched a new campaign to support British families that are having similar therapy.
“We were so moved by the last campaign that now we want to give something back,” they wrote.
Sadly, not all GoFundMe efforts have such happy endings. Two of the top 16 fundraisers were to help cancer patients who later died.
The top individual GoFundMe campaigns of 2016
1. “Support Victims of Pulse Shooting,” $7.9 million
2. “The Official Sacred Stone Camp,” $3 million
3. “Jo Cox’s Fund,” £1.9 million ($2.4 million)
4. “Veterans for Standing Rock,” $1.1 million
5. “Alton Sterling Family Scholarship,” $714,000
6. “West Virginia Flood Relief,” $710,000
7. “Cambridge Mayor’s Fire Relief Fund,” $649,000
8. “Donate4Mike,” £454,000 ($573,000)
9. “Pulse Tragedy Community Fund,” $562,000
10. “Victory for Vinny,” $457,000
11. “Medical Fund for Sophia Wilansky,” $423,000
12. “Your Help Can Save Erin’s Life,” $385,000
13. “Relief for Fidencio the Paleta Man,” $384,000
14. “Support for Blue Angel Jeff Kuss’ Family,” $379,000
15. “Ballwin Officer Flamion Family Fund,” $371,000
16. “Chauncy’s Chance,” $342,000
